The Beginning of the Beginning
by CUBSsquint
Summary: A fanfic of what it would've been like if Booth and Bones met in high school.
1. Where It All Began

It was the first day of Senior year and already she was dreading it. Of course she loved school, with so much to learn what's not to love? But she'd rather learn from books, rather than having to face the humiliation which is high school. The only good thing she could think of was that this was her last year before college, a place where students actually cared about their education.

Temperance Brennan held her head high as she walked into school. She followed the familiar direct path to her locker. When she got there she was disgusted to see what was sadly not an unusual sight.

"Excuse me…" she said, trying to hide her irritation. But still, the couple did not untangle themselves. Instead, they pulled closer, making out as if there were no tomorrow. "Excuse me!" she repeated, with more anger to her tone.

The boy opened his eyes first. He noticed the obviously annoyed girl standing there. "Oh," he said, and then tried to get some words out between kisses. "Um…Becca…hey, we…gotta move."

"Huh?" the girl asked, finally surfacing for air. "What Seel?"

"We gotta move, we're blocking her locker," the boy said, pointing at Temperance.

"Oh," the girl said looking up, "oh," she said again with a more mocking attitude once she saw who was standing there. "Do we really have to move Seel?" she coaxed, putting her arms around the boys waist.

This whole scene was starting to rather embarrass Temperance, especially because she knew the boy from Chemistry class last year, and he obviously did not remember her.

"Comm'on Becca, I gotta get to my football meeting anyway," the boy said, grabbing the girls hand and leading her away.

Temperance stood there for a moment rather awkwardly before putting her things in her locker and heading down to the library. Of all the rooms in the building the library was her favorite, after the science labs of course. That's why she had requested that she change lockers closer to the library, but she hadn't realized that that stretch of hall was known as "make-out central".

She grabbed a book on the history of evolution that she had started to read last year and went to sit in her spot, a secluded little section behind a few shelves of books. But there was already someone in her spot.

"I'm sorry," the boy yelped and quickly tried to pick up his huge pile of books and run, but his arms lacked muscular definition and he ended up spilling the books all over the floor. The boy looked as if he were about to cry.

'_Definitely a freshman,'_ Temperance thought, but she felt bad for the boy and decided to help him. "Hey, it's okay," she said, wanting to calm his nerves but lacking the empathy to come up with the right words.

The boy's words flew out of his mouth at rapid speed. "I'm sorry, I was just hiding from those boys. They wanted to stick my head in the toilet! But I said no, but they wouldn't listen. Then I found the library, and all these books, and I figured I'd be safe here, but I'm not allowed to sit here, am I? I…"

"I said it's okay," Temperance said, remembering her first horrible year in high school, "You can stay here. I understand…how mean...certain people can be."

The boy looked at her, and she thought she saw him relax a bit.

"So what's your name?" she asked him.

"Zackary Uriah Addy," he answered, "What's yours?" he asked sheepishly.

"Temperance Brennan," she replied. Then she looked through his pile of books and noticed they were a lot of the same ones she had read while tucked away in her corner during freshman year. It was then that she made it her priority to look after this little boy.

* * *

This school year was shaping up to be her best yet. There were no older kids to pick on her, so for the most part she only had to deal with other seniors. And for the first time ever, she had a friend. Zack quickly became her little protégé and he proved to be quite adept in the field of science as well. The two of them started an anatomy club once she had chosen to major in Anthropology in college.

She always looked forward to anatomy club every day. It was a time that she could truly focus on science, and not be bothered by the other students who didn't really care. But then one day, he walked in.

"Uhm, hey is this anatomy club?" the boy asked.

Temperance looked up, but quickly looked back down at her textbook. "Yes it is," Zack replied, "And you are?"

"Seeley Booth," the boy said. Then he laughed, "Aren't you that squinty freshman who's taking senior anatomy?"

"I don't know what you mean," Zack stated, his look of confusion was plain on his face.

"You know, squinty. Always squinting at stuff under the microscope, the way kids who love science class way too much do," Seeley answered.

"What do you want?" Temperance bluntly asked, saving Zack from having to find a response.

"Well my teacher said that I need a tutor to help me pass anatomy. So I was told to come here," Seeley said. Then he grinned, deciding that if he was going to have to have a tutor, he at least wanted the only somewhat hot girl in anatomy class. "So I don't think we've met," he said flirtily, "What's your name?"

"I- I've been in classes with you for the past three years," she said.

_'That was awkward,'_ Seeley thought.

"Oh, I'm sorry, uh," and he scrambled his mind to think of her name. Sure he knew the nicknames people called her, but figured he might as well expect a zero on his final if he called her any of those. _'It starts with a T?'_ he thought, but he came up blank.

"My name's Temperance," she finally said.

"Sorry, I knew that!" Seeley said.

"Sure you did," Temperance said. She was used to people pretending to be nice to her when they needed help with schoolwork.

"Well can you tutor me?" Seeley asked.

"Zack can," she told him.

"What, the squinty freshman? Really?"

"That's not a nice thing to say," Zack said from a few feet behind them.

"But can't you tutor me?" he begged Temperance, "You're the smartest kid in the class."

"That's true," she said, "So obviously I have better things to occupy my time."

Seeley didn't know what to do. Girls usually jumped at any opportunity to spend time with him, but this chick didn't want anything to do with him at all. Then he figured out a plan B.

"Fine. Have it your way," he said. Then he left the club and headed straight towards the teacher's lounge with a trick up his sleeves.

"He was rude," Zack said to Temperance.

"He's one of those ignorant people who always get what they want," Temperance responded. "Let's get back to our research, okay?"

* * *

Seeley strolled right into the teacher's lounge, something most students wouldn't dare to do. But he walked straight up Mr. Hacker, the principal, who also happened to be a huge football fan.

"Mr. Hacker," Seeley began, "You know how we football players need to maintain our grades to stay eligible for sports. Well, you see, I went to the anatomy club to find a tutor to help me pass my class, but they all refused. I just won't be able to pass it without help though, and I'd really hate to have to miss the opportunity to take our team down to state."

He didn't have to say another word. Mr. Hacker was already on the phone with the office, putting in a request to connect him to the anatomy teacher. He then told, well, kind of threatened her, to assign the smarted kid in her class to tutor Seeley.

"There you go son," he told Seeley after a matter of minutes, "Some girl named Temperance Brennan is to report to the lab tomorrow after school to begin tutoring you. We can't risk losing our star quarterback, now can we?"

Seeley grinned, "No we can't sir."


	2. Session One

"You!" She glared at him as he entered the room. "I said I didn't want to tutor you!"

"Whoa there, hold your horses." He said.

"What horses?" she asked in all seriousness.

"Oh," he laughed, "it's just a saying."

"See, you're laughing at me. And you really expect me to want to help you?" Temperance barked back at him. Seeley couldn't see why she was getting so angry.

"Sorry," he said, in a slightly sarcastic tone, "It'd be real great if you could help me pass anatomy."

"And why should I?" she asked.

"So I can stay in football and take the team down to state!" he said cheerfully, "School pride! Go Wildcats!"

"I don't know what that means."

"You're kidding right?"

She just looked at him blankly.

"Okay," he said, realizing things were going to be a bit difficult with this girl. "Can you just please tutor me for a bit? How 'bout if I promise to make the other jocks lay off on teasing the anatomy club members?"

She seemed to be contemplating his offer. "They'll leave us alone?" she asked, sounding a bit hopeful.

"Yeah sure, no problem," He said, offering a casual grin.

"Fine then, I guess I'll help you. No need to be so cocky about it." She sighed.

"Me, cocky? Nah," Seeley grinned. She tried hard to resist, but she found herself smiling back.

"Okay," Seeley said, glad that he had won her over at last, "So where can we meet for you to tutor me? How 'bout your place?"

"No," Temperance said quickly. "Yours?" she asked.

"Uhm, maybe?" Seeley said, taken a bit aback by her sudden response, "My Pops isn't usually home till late though and my little brother would be bugging us. Hey how about the public library? It's right next to this little bakery that has the most amazing pies ever."

"Sounds good," Temperance said, relieved that he didn't ask why she was so adamant about it not being at her place. That was a part of her she hadn't told anyone, and she certainly wasn't going to tell this jock.

"Today's Friday, so how about Tuesday we meet there, say around 6:30?" he asked.

"Probably," she said, thinking of what time the public buses could get her there, "More like seven."

"Alright! Thanks for helping me, I mean it," he said, and then headed for the door, "See ya."

"Wait!" Temperance called after him. "Don't forget what you promised."

He saw the desperation in her eyes, and felt bad that she had endured so much teasing over the years. The least he could do was put a stop to it now. "I won't," he said sincerely, and then left.

_'What did I just agree to?'_ Temperance thought.

* * *

"Seeley, you're late," Temperance said when she saw him hastily walking towards her in the back of the library.

"Sorry, coach held practice late, and I had to shower before I came here," he said, "And don't call me Seeley, just- just call me Booth, I like that much better."

"Okay, Booth," she said, "Well let's get started. Is there anything in particular you're confused about?"

Booth took the textbook, and opened to page one. "All of it," he said guiltily. For some reason he didn't like how it felt admitting what he didn't know. His pride always got the best of him.

"Okay," Temperance said slowly, and she began to teach him. She was surprised at how intently he listened to her explanations. He really did seem eager to learn, even if he didn't grasp the concepts easily. He seemed to feel stupid when he asked questions, but she was impressed at how thorough his questions were. Before they knew it, two hours had come and gone.

Temperance looked at the clock and realized that the last bus left in fifteen minutes, "I really have to go," she said.

"Already?" Booth asked. Then he turned and looked at the clock. "Whoa, time went by fast. That was great, I really think I'm starting to get this stuff. And I wasn't even the slightest bit bored."

Once again he had made her smile. He liked seeing the happy side of her; she always seemed so gloomy at school.

"So is your mom or dad picking you up?" he asked.

"No-," she seemed hesitant, "I'm taking the bus."

"Okay," he said, "I'll walk you to the stop."

She looked at him, seeing if he was being serious. His niceness was really beginning to surprise her. "Sure," she said.

"Do you have time to get some pie?" he asked as they stood at the stop outside the library.

"No, the bus is supposed to be here any minute. Next time," she reassured him.

"Thursday same time?" he asked her as the bus pulled up to the stop.

"Okay," she said.

"Bye Bones," he called as she walked up to the bus.

"Bones?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's my nickname for you," he smiled, "Cause you're smart and know all that stuff about bones."

She wasn't sure what to make of that, but she didn't have time because the bus wouldn't wait forever. "Alright. See ya, Booth."

She sat in her seat, and found herself smiling for no exact reason at all.


	3. Pie

"Booth, you're late…again. Hope you're not going to make a habit of it." She teased.

"Sorry Bones," he said, attempting a smile, but the one he gave looked pained, and even Temperance noticed that.

She wasn't sure if she should say anything but, "What's wrong Booth?"

He sighed. "Bad day," he told her.

She didn't say anything, but her eyes seemed to ask for more.

"I-, I broke up with Rebecca," he said slowly.

"Your girlfriend?" she asked. He nodded. Once again she wasn't sure if she should ask, but she did, "How come?"

"It-, she-, It just wasn't working out. She wanted a fling, and I guess I wanted something more? I don't really know why, but we just had to go our separate ways."

"I'm sorry Booth," Temperance said, "Well let's start anatomy."

Booth winced, but opened his book. Temperance noticed, and well, his puppy dog eyes got the best of her.

"Actually," she began, "How about we go get some pie first?"

Booth looked up and gave a real smile.

* * *

"Let's get an apple pie," Booth said, "It's one of their best."

"I don't really like fruit baked…" Temperance said.

"Comm'on Bones, it's great! You'll love it," he assured her.

She smiled at the use of her new nickname and reluctantly agreed. Booth got the pie and two forks and they went outside to sit on the curb.

They sat there, talked, and ate the pie, which Temperance found surprisingly delicious. Booth was amazed at how easy Bones was to talk to. She wasn't at all like the weirdo he had assumed she'd be. Even after the pie was long gone they sat on the curb and talked for hours.

"Oh no!" Temperance soon exclaimed.

"What?" Booth said, his voice full of concerned.

"I missed the last bus!" She looked as fleeting as Cinderella after midnight.

"I'll drive you home," Booth offered.

"Well I-, I-," Temperance stuttered, and Booth was shocked to find her close to tears.

"Are you okay? Cause really, it's no problem, I'll drive you home," Booth said, scooting closer to her on the curb.

She struggled with an internal debate. Booth really seemed concerned, but she had never told anyone. Then again, no one had ever cared before.

"Bones, are you okay?" Booth asked again.

"Sorry, it's just, I've never told anyone before…"

Booth looked her straight in the eyes, "It's okay," he said, "You can trust me."

"I live in a group home," she started slowly, refusing to make eye contact with Booth, "for abandoned children."

Booth wasn't sure what to say but he put his arm around her. She seemed startled at first, but then leaned into him before continuing. "My-my parents disappeared when I was fifteen, my brother went out west to look for work, and I-,"

Booth stopped her, "Hey its okay," He said gently, squeezing his arm more tightly around her. "Comm'on, let's get you back home."

They talked a bit during the car ride, just casual easy conversation. When they got to the home, Temperance turned to him and said, "Thank you," and it was clear she was thanking him for more than just the ride.

"Your welcome," Booth responded, equally sincere. Temperance started to walk off. "Hey Bones, wait," he called after her. She turned around. "You want to come to my game tomorrow?"

"Okay Booth," she said as she smiled, turned, and walked inside the house


	4. Just a Game

Temperance decided to take Zack with her to the football game. It was the first game she'd ever gone to and she was very confused with the concept of this sport. What was the point of boys tackling each other and running around with an odd shaped ball? But from what she was observing, she determined that Booth was exceptionally good at this so called sport. He displayed alpha male qualities as a leader among the boys, and he seemed to be the one whose name was mentioned most often over the loudspeaker. She also observed the fans in the crowd who seemed to be doing the strangest rituals. Down in front there was a row of boys with no shirts on who had each painted a letter on their bare chest. Despite the weather being cool they seemed bent on jumping up and down bare-chested the entire night. However, the one aspect of the whole event that bothered her was the scantily clad "dancers" down on the field, led by none other than Rebecca, Booth's ex-girlfriend. All they did was jump around and clap their hands, but they seemed to draw large response from a majority of the crowd.

"Brennan?" Zack drew her away from her train of thought.

"Yes Zack?" she asked.

"Would you mind if I went to sit with that girl over there?" he asked, pointing to a quaint petite girl sitting a few rows down and to their left. The girl kept nervously looking up at them and then back down at her shoes. "Her name is Naomi," Zack explained, "She was very interested in my paper on paleontology."

"I guess that would be acceptable," Temperance nodded and watched as the freshman clumsily hopped down the rows to stand beside the girl.

She stood there, continuing to observe the game, when a group of girls came skipping across the bleachers nearly causing her to lose her footing. Then one girl gave an extra jump and Temperance fell into the people in front of her.

"Watch it loser," the boys she had fallen onto yelled at her, "Get off freak!"

The girls laughed. "Nice one, Heather!" they said to the red-head who had given the final jumping blow.

The girl called Heather laughed as Temperance scrambled to her feet. "What are you doing here loser? Don't you have another cat to dissect?"

"Hey lay off her won't you?" a guy said, climbing up the bleacher to help Temperance to her feet. She recognized him, but didn't really know who he was. He was one of those guys who wasn't necessarily popular, but everyone liked him well-enough and trusted him.

"She plays with dead animals!" Heather screeched at him.

"Dissects them. It's a respectable science," the boy said, coming to her defense again.

"Tim why are you helping her?" one of the other girls asked.

"Comm'on, she's an orphan, she's had a tough life give her a break," the boy calmly explained. Temperance turned to him, shocked. She had only told one person that. One. So how did this kid know? She turned to look down to the field. The game was over. She scanned the field looking for Booth, and found him, making out with Rebecca. _'What a liar!'_ she thought, _'and I trusted him!'_

She wanted to run now, go back home and cry into her pillow, but Heather saw her looking down at the field and started to laugh. "Got a crush on one of them? That will never happen loser. Tim might be a nice guy trying to stick up for you, but you will never ever have a boyfriend!" And once satisfied that she had had the last laugh, Heather and the girls went skipping down to the field, each hugging a separate football player.

"You okay?" the boy asked.

Temperance was still shocked. She stood there, seemingly unaware of her surroundings. His question pulled her out of the daze. "Who are you?" she asked angrily.

"Whoa there," he said, "I was just trying to help, no need to be angry. I'm Tim Sullivan, but most people call me Sully."

"How did you know that about me?" she pressed.

"Know what?" Sully asked, "Oh, the orphan thing?" He saw the bewildered hurt in her eyes. "Sorry if that was a touchy subject. Booth just-," But with that Temperance didn't need to hear another word. She pushed her way down the bleachers, and ran down under the stand. The team had finished celebrating and was on their way to the locker room when she ran pass.

"Hey Bones!"

She heard his voice but kept running. She also heard the collective murmurs of 'what a freak' and 'loser' from the rest of the team.

She stopped running when the lights of the stadium were just a faint glow in the distance. She still had a ways to walk to the nearest bus stop. She felt the tears slipping down her face, and the weather suddenly decided to match her mood as the sky cracked open and raindrops came pouring out.

The football team was heading to state now, and no doubt Booth was going to need more tutoring to keep his grade adequate. But she would refuse.


	5. Fight or Flight

Temperance spent her weekend quietly reading under the big oak tree in the backyard. She was often envious of the people she read about. Fiction and non-fiction alike, the characters always had someone to turn to. Someone they could trust with anything. Sure, she had Zack, but he wasn't that _kind_ of friend. He seemed to lack social skills even more than she did. But yet, he had that one girl from that football game talking to him. He also seemed to slip right under the teasing radar, while she could never avoid.

_'What's wrong with me?_' she thought, _'I have a high IQ, and I'm not ugly? Why-," _she let her thoughts run wild, but nothing was comforting her.

She looked through the different pamphlets various colleges had sent her. Most were offering her a full-ride scholarship, but she wasn't sure which one would she would be able to pay her way through which housing and textbooks, etc. University of Michigan, University of Chicago, Harvard, Stanford, and Penn State were the choices she had narrowed her selection down to.

Temperance was glad she was finally able to focus on something else. Once she headed off to one of these new schools she would never have to see any of her high school classmates ever again, which was something she could not wait for.

"I think…University of Chicago," she said aloud to herself. It was the closest to home and the most familiar to her. But now that her decision was made her mind began to wander yet again…

* * *

"Bones!" She heard his voice but continued to read. How had he found her in her hidden spot in the library? But on top of that, what was a jock like him doing in the library in the first place?

"Earth to Bones," he said, but that was followed by a nasty loud "Shh!" from several librarians, so he lowered his voice as he neared her. "Hey when can you tutor me next?" he asked.

She slowly looked up. "I can't," she said, then looked back down.

"What?" Booth looked at her, "Why not?"

"I'm busy," she lied.

"Really?" Booth pestered, sensing there wasn't much truth behind that.

"Yes," she said promptly, once again without looking up.

"Aww comm'on Bones," he whined.

"I said no," she said firmly, getting up ready to leave, "And don't call me Bones!"

Booth just watched dumbfounded as she stormed out of the library. _'Was it something I said,'_ he wondered.

* * *

Temperance was mad at herself. She had started to let someone into her life, and of course it failed. Maybe she was getting a bit carried away, but still. She only knew two reactions to any stimulus: fight or flight. In the past she picked her battles wisely, but that was growing old. She was tired of being teased, tired of being used as a talking textbook, and most of all was tired of being neglected.

The next few months that went by were a blur. Booth had tried to talk to her again, but was unsuccessful in getting her back at his tutor. She occasionally noticed him in the library, drowning in papers and diagrams, looking tremendously confused. The football team went down state and won, creating a frenzy at school that Temperance considered unnecessary. After all, academics were much more important than athletics. The basketball team also apparently did very well because come winter the same frenzy was back again.

Soon enough May was just a week away. An enormous amount of events appeared on the calendar for the seniors. The one most students were excited for seemed to be prom, which was being held at the Shedd Aquarium, but that was just a waste of time and money to Temperance. She spent her days more rationally, reading, writing, and preparing for college.

She was already eighteen, and was technically not allowed to live at the group home anymore. They made an exception though, granted she move into her dorm as quickly as possible.

May twenty-sixth was graduation day. Temperance was of course named valedictorian, and was asked to give a speech. However she was able to talk her way out of the whole pretentious affair.

It looked as if hundreds of families had shown up to support their graduates, but she had no one except Zack. Her brother Russ hadn't even bothered to call, or even send a letter. When the frivolous ceremony finally came to a close, she went to go say goodbye to Zack.

"Congratulations," Zack said walking towards her, "Good luck in college."

They hugged, both not very good with words. Zack promised to keep in touch and Brennan wished him luck with the rest of high school. And then she went on her way, leaving all the painful memories behind her.

* * *

**[Sorry, I'm having a difficult time with finishing this story. For some reason it just feels rough and not put together? I might come back and continue it if I have later inspiration, but I just figure you can imagine this picks up with the pilot episode (ignoring the 100th...lol). I think it's mainly because I heard the spoiler for season six that booth comes back with a girlfriend! I mean, comm'on hart, give us a little something. I really wanted the coffee scene to be adorable but now it's gonna be awkward or sad. But anyways, now I'm rambling. I figure I'm gonna start writing a NCIS fic, maybe cross over with Bones? Of course, bringing Kate back to life :) Well, thanks to all who read this story and especially those who reviewed]**


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